The Telugu Titans defeated the Patna Pirates 46-39 in Eliminator 3, ending their incredible run at the Thyagaraj Indoor Stadium on Tuesday. The Titans will now play season 10 winners Puneri Paltan on Wednesday night in an attempt to advance to the final, led by the indispensable Bharat Hooda’s 23 points.
On the other side of the mat, youthful Ayan Lohchab put on yet another outstanding performance. He made history by being the first PKL raider to score 20 or more points in six games in a single season. He contributed significantly to the Pirates’ eight-match winning run to the Eliminator 3, finishing the season with 316 raid points—132 more than he scored in PKL 11 (184).
Both teams got off to a fast start, exchanging scores early on. In his first raid, Ayan was tackled, and in his subsequent move, Vijay Malik was halted. But soon after, the Pirates—led by none other than Ayan Lohchab—took early command. With touches on Ankit and Praful Zaware, he was able to secure a two-point raid. He also received another touch from Shubham Shinde.
Six minutes into the game, Navdeep’s tackle on Titans captain Vijay resulted in the first ALL OUT. After the ALL OUT, Bharat continued to put pressure on the Titans, scoring two points on Deepak and Balaji D. Ankit Rana scored a touch point to increase the Pirates’ lead to four points at the end of the first quarter, with the score standing at 13-9, following a string of fruitless attacks.
Following a successful raid on Ajit Pawar, Ayan continued his excellent streak and became just the sixth player in PKL history to reach 300 raid points in a season. As the three-time champions proceeded to show off their skills, he also became the joint quickest raider (with Pardeep Narwal and Pawan Sehrawat from season 7).
Navdeep quickly rose to the top of the tackle points standings with a tackle on Bharat during a Do-or-Die raid. But the Titans were unfazed by all of this. The gap was cut to just one point after Shubham confronted Ayan and Chetan Sahu received a touch off Deepak. At the end of the first half, the Titans had a 22-20 advantage after the Pirates were eventually given the ALL OUT.
After Bharat’s successful raid on Ankit, the lead grew to three points, and he finished his Super 10 with a touch point on Ashish Birwal in his very next move. After tackling Ankit Rana, Bharat got Deepak and Navdeep, giving the Pirates a second ALL OUT.
As the Titans started to dominate the victory, the lead grew to ten points. As players like Balaji D and Ankit Rana failed to score vital points for their squad, Ayan and Navdeep received no assistance from their teammates.
As the Pirates made their way back into the game, Ayan successfully raided Shubham Shinde to complete his Super 10. After that, he earned a two-point raid with a dubki that found Ankit and Chetan Sahu of the Titans, setting up a pivotal final quarter in which the Titans had the lead and the score was 35–28.
The Pirates cut the Titans’ deficit to just five points, inflicting a second ALL OUT. While Ayan continued to hurt the Titans in the attack, Navdeep also completed his fourth High Five of the year. Vijay Malik eventually tackled him, but Bharat carried his team through a successful raid on Balaji D.
The Titans had a response for each point the Pirates scored. After Titans defender Ankit tackled Milan Dahiya, Bharat, who also scored 200 raid points this season, got touches on Deepak and Ankit Kumar Rana.
As the game reached its climax, Bharat scored a Super Raid, which was the Pirates’ last blow. The Titans’ incredible run to the playoffs came to an end with a close five-point defeat, setting up a crucial matchup with Puneri Paltan in Qualifier 2.
